


Worlds Collide

by DoneInLove



Series: Had to Start Somewhere [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Old Friends, Setting - Wedding, So many OCs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:01:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22027486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoneInLove/pseuds/DoneInLove
Summary: If Eddie were to really think about it, he’d say he probably should have known he wouldn’t be able to hold back his feelings for his best friend anymore the second he realized their pasts and presents came barreling into each other.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Had to Start Somewhere [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1550251
Comments: 7
Kudos: 146





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this since basically the minute I posted 'Clueless' and it just kept getting out of hand, so it's taken waaay longer than I thought it would. So now it's going to be a 3-part thing because it's become a monster of a story. 
> 
> So here's this universe's version of Buck and Eddie getting together (finally).

If Eddie were to really think about it, he’d say he probably should have known he wouldn’t be able to hold back his feelings for his best friend anymore the second he realized their pasts and presents came barreling into each other. 

Eddie had gotten an invitation to the wedding of one of his close Army buddies in the mail and had a small moment of panic over the last line on the card; _’No children. Plus-One highly encouraged’_ So he had to bring someone and it couldn’t be Christopher? It would have to be Buck then. Eddie wasn’t the type to go out and get some random date to a wedding, and he definitely wasn’t about to go to one alone, especially if plus ones were ‘highly encouraged’, whatever that meant. He wanted someone he knew well enough to be comfortable with all night, and hey, he’d been wanting to introduce Buck to his Army family anyways, so it was the perfect excuse, Eddie reasoned with himself. 

When he asked Buck, he had almost expected more questions out of him. Even Eddie knew it wasn’t exactly common practice to bring your best friend to a wedding instead of a date. What he got, however, was pure enthusiasm. 

“Hell yeah man!” Buck said, grinning and hitting Eddie’s shoulder. “I’ve wanted to meet your Army bros forever. And I love weddings.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah I’m sure you’ve had plenty of good times at weddings.”

“What? Oh, you mean - “ Buck laughed and shook his head. “Shit, yeah, Buck 1.0 definitely loved weddings for a whole other reason too. I can't even tell you how many bridal parties I’ve picked over back in the day.” 

“Well, there won’t be any desperate bridesmaids at this wedding,”

“Dude, come on, you know I’m not like that anymore. Buck 2.0 loves wedding purely for the romance.” Buck had clasped his hands over his heart dramatically and was pretending to swoon at the idea. Eddie chuckled and hit him in the arm. Buck laughed it off but shot him a confused look. “What you you mean though? All the bridesmaids already married or something?”

“More like, all the bridesmaids are men,” Eddie said through a smirk. “Except I guess they aren’t technically bridesmaids to begin with. I think it’s more like two sets of groomsmen.”

Buck’s eyes widened briefly; he obviously wasn’t expecting that. “No shit? Are both grooms Army guys?”

“Nah, just Mel. He met Andre through a non-profit he volunteers at. I’ve never met him, but Mel’s over the moon about him, so I’m pretty stoked to finally meet him.”

“That’s awesome man. I’m excited to meet everyone too.”

When Eddie got up to get each of them another beer, he heard Buck say something he wasn’t sure he was supposed to hear. “Buck 1.0 would have had a field day. Two sets of desperate groomsmen? Hot damn.”

He took longer than normal in the kitchen as he tried to figure out if he heard Buck correctly, and if so, what exactly that meant. Eddie had heard all about Buck 1.0 through story after story Hen and Chim have told as a way of making fun of Buck, or when he joked about ‘going through a phase’ that included sleeping with his therapist and commandeering ladder trucks to pick up chicks. But he’d only ever heard stories about Buck 1.0 in relation to women. Eddie would have remembered if Buck ever mentioned sleeping with men. Unless…

_“Remember that time Buck disappeared from the toy drive for like 40 minutes and when he finally resurfaced he had that gnarly looking hickey?” Chim asked the table one night over piles of Bobby’s delicious chicken curry._

_Hen guffawed and elbowed a blushing Buck. “Yeah, who was the vampire afterall? You never introduced us.”_

_“Oh, nah, you guys didn’t know Alex,” he said, shrugging. “We met a few years before and just reconnected at the toy drive. Wasn’t exactly worth introducing you to each other.”_

_“Yeah, you guys reconnected alright,” Chim said suggestively around a mouthful of rice, sending the table into a peel of laughter._

Eddie had just assumed Alex was short for Alexandra or something like that, but it could have been Alexander, he supposed. He didn’t remember Buck using any pronouns for Alex that whole conversation, but based on everything he thought he knew about Buck, he just thought it was a woman who gave him the infamous toy-drive-hickey. 

_”I’m sure Buckaroo’s been a part of his fair share of threesomes,” Hen Muttered to Chimney as they came around the backside of the ambulance after a particularly weird call involving three people in quite the compromising position._

_“Hey Buck!”_

_The answer came from behind as Buck rounded the firetruck beside him. “Yeah Chim?”_

_“Buck 1.0 ever been a part of anything like that?”_

_He laughed. “What? A threesome? Hell yeah. Back in college, my friend Devin and I hooked up all the time with other people. I don’t know why, but girls were super into that kinda thing at my school and we were definitely not complaining.”_

Eddie knew deep enough down that Devin was usually a guy’s name, but he had met a few female Devin’s throughout his years. He’d just thought at the time that Buck’s college friend Devin was one of the girls that was into threesomes like he talked about. But Eddie couldn’t help but wonder now if Devin was actually a man; it would make a little more sense as to why girls were so into it. Even Eddie knew a lot of women liked seeing two men together, just like a lot of men liked watching two women together. 

_”There was this one time I think Hen was about two seconds awat from knocking me on my ass,” Buck told Eddie one night, one arm draped over the back of the couch between them. “So I spent a lot of time on this hookup app, right? Well, I was so far up my own ass that I didn’t even think about the fact that no one else on the team was on anything like that, with anonymous usernames and shit. So I came up the stairs one day at the station and make this announcement like they actually gave a shit. Anyway, I say, ‘Guess who has a date tonight with_ 1-hot-piece-of-ass _?’ That was the username, but no one knew that of course. So Hen launches into me about respect and objectification and all that before I even had a chance to explain myself. If I wasn’t so terrified, it probably would have been hilarious when she eased up enough to let me speak.”_

But ‘one hot piece of ass’? Eddie thought he might have been reaching with that one, but it stuck with him either way. Buck didn’t use any pronouns in that conversation either, so it made his mind race at the possibility. And that definitely did sound a little more like a username for a gay man than for a straight woman, if Eddie were to be honest with himself. But maybe that was just wishful thinking. 

Before Eddie’s thoughts really spiraled out of control, he forced himself to put on an even expression and took her new beers back to the living room. He handed Buck his bottle and sat back down on his corner of the couch. He folded one leg up in front of him, tucked his other underneath, and rested his bottle on the knee. 

“Fair warning,” Eddie started slowly. “Some people there are definitely going to think we’re together if you come with me. So y’know, you totally don’t have to come if you don’t want to deal with that.”

Buck rolled his eyes and shot Eddie an amused look. “A) it wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened with us. B) doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but C) just because it’s a same sex wedding doesn’t mean people are automatically going to think we’re together.”

Eddie pursed his lips and let out a small chuckle. “That’s not why they’d think that.” Buck just cocked an eyebrow and Eddie sighed. “Mel and I had a thing towards the end of our second tour. He thinks it’s hilarious now and brings it up to anyone that will listen. You also kinda look a lot like him, so I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of that and jump to all sorts of conclusions no matter what we tell him.”

Buck took a long drag from his beer before speaking. Eddie couldn’t read his expression for the life of him. “So when you say you had a thing…?”

He shrugged. “We hooked up. Pretty often actually. If it weren’t for a nagging voice in my head reminding me I was still married, Mel and I probably would have started dating once we were back stateside.”

Buck cracked a huge grin and shook his head. “Damn. All that from Mr. I-don’t-date-because-of-my-son-and-secret-wife. Looks like you had another kind of phase before your whole street fighting business.”

“Not exactly a phase,” Eddie said around the mouth of his bottle, smirking when Buck hit his leg playfully. 

“No shit? Damn Diaz. I didn’t realize you still had any secrets left I didn’t know about.”

Buck was still speaking playfully, but the last thing Eddie wanted was for Buck to think he didn’t trust him or anything like that.

“It’s not like I was necessarily keeping it a secret, at least not on purpose. I just never found the right time to bring it up without making it this whole big thing. It’s not like I’ve dated anyone since Shannon and it didn’t feel right to just waltz into the 118 one day and say, ‘Hey guys, how goes the saving lives and shit? By the way, I’m bisexual. Let’s go put out a fire.’”

Buck threw his head back in laughter and it pinched at Eddie’s heart. When he composed himself a bit, he turned back to Eddie with a soft smile on his face. “Dude I totally get it. I’ve known I liked guys since college and I didn’t even tell Maddie until about a month ago. It just never felt important when I wasn’t dating a man.”

Eddies’ heart dropped momentarily. “Wait, are you dating someone now?”

“What? No. No one since Ali.”

“Oh.” Eddie was confused. “So what made you finally tell Maddie if it wasn’t because you started dating a guy?”

Buck’s cheeks were starting to get pink and Eddie wasn’t sure if it was from the beer. 

“Uh, I dunno. I guess with everything we’ve been through, I just didn’t want to keep anything from her anymore, even if it wasn’t exactly relevant. I mean, I’ve started dropping hints at work too so if Chimney would have somehow figured it out and told Maddie, it’d definitely make her think I didn’t trust her or that I just didn’t want her to know. Not that I think anyone is actually picking up on my hints - they’re all so used to my sex-as-a-coping-mechanism thing from when I started, and back then I was definitely not dropping hints.”

“What hints have you actually been dropping?”

He laughed. “Damn, Buck 1.0 definitely did a number on my reputation if you haven’t been getting the hints either.” Buck set his bottle down on the coffee table and readjusted himself on the couch so his legs were stretched out in front of him, his feet only inches from Eddie’s own. “Sorry, my leg’s getting a little crampy,” he said, reaching down to massage at his previously injured calf. Eddie knew better than to comment on it though. Buck continued, “Mostly I’ve just avoided pronouns in stories. Dropped some names here and there. Nothing too obvious, but enough I thought at least someone might pick up on it.”

Eddie smirked through another drink of beer. “You mean like Alex the toy drive vampire? Or Devin the threesome friend?”

Buck laughed, nodding. “So you did pick up on some of them.”

“C’mon, both of those could be female names.”

“Yeah, or male. Which they are.” He used his bottle to gesture at Eddie, smirking. 

“Okay fine, what else?” Eddie asked, laughing. 

“There was Jackie, and Casey. A couple stories about genderless hookups. Oh, and Lee.”

“Oh come on!” Eddie was full on belly laughing by that point. “What, did you only sleep with guys that have gender neutral names? What the hell dude? Not a single person would have thought those were men with the amount of women you’ve talked about.”

Buck laughed along with him and shook his head. “Fine, I guess I’m just gonna have to come right out and say it if I want anyone to pick up on it.” 

Eddie thought he was joking.

He was proven completely wrong later that week.

“Hey guys?” Buck chimed, in the middle of passing a pot of potatoes down the table at the firehouse one night. “Remember Alex the Toy Drive Vampire, as you’ve so cleverly nicknamed?”

Chimney was the first to respond. “I remember the story. I also remember that you never introduced her to us, so we don’t exactly know her.”

“Well, she’s a he. Alex is short for Alexander. And my librarian ex, Lee? Also a he. Jackie is a nickname my ex-boyfriend Jackson went by. Devin was my college roommate. And you guys actually kind of know Casey, or you might. He’s a firefighter down at the 115. I wasn’t lying when I said Casey was part of the reason I even became a firefighter, I just didn’t mention that he was one too. But, uh, yeah. I just thought you all should know the full truth.”

Everyone’s faces held the same shocked expression from what Eddie could see, but Bobby was the only one to speak at first. “What exactly are you trying to tell us Buck?”

“I’m bi. I was trying to drop hints, but _someone_ \- ” Buck stared intently at Eddie - “told me I was being too vague and that no one would have ever picked up on it because I have too big of a reputation as a womanizer.”

“Not my wording,” Eddie interjected. 

It seemed like nobody knew quite what to say. Hen looked like she was trying not to laugh. Chim was frozen with a forkful of chicken halfway to his open mouth. Even Cap looked confused by this news. 

“I mean, it’s not a big deal or anything, and it’s not like I was intentionally keeping it from you guys. It was just a lot easier to let you think I was only sleeping around with women. But you guys are like my family, so I wanted you to know because that it still a part of me and I didn’t want it to be this whole big thing if I ever did start dating a man and wanted to introduce him to you all.”

Hen was the first to move, and Eddie saw her humor fade into something more like guilt as she rounded the table to wrap Buck in a tight hug. “Oh, you sweet thing. I’m so sorry if I ever made you feel like I wasn’t there for you like I could have been.”

Buck just laughed into the hug, squeezing Hen just as tightly. “It wasn’t like that, Hen. I knew I could have come to you at any time. It just didn’t feel like anything to make a big announcement about.”

“And here you are, making a big announcement anyways,” Chimney added, looking significantly more calm as he took another bite of his chicken. 

“Yeah, well, Eddie pointed out that all of the exes I was trying to name-drop as hints ironically have pretty gender neutral names and I probably wasn’t going to be able to throw enough subtle remarks for you to pick up on.”

Hen had made her way back to her seat with a much less guilty expression on her face, only to send a cocked eyebrow and pursed lips at Chimney, much to Eddie’s confusion. She looked back at Buck then and asked through a smirk, “So you told Eddie first?”

“I mean, I told Maddie a few months back, but out of you guys, yeah,” he answered, shrugging. 

“How did that conversation happen?”

“It probably started when I came out to him first,” Eddie offered, his own smirk matching Hen’s before the sheer disbelief returned to her face. 

Bobby’s fork clattered as it fell out of his slack hand. “Wait, what?”

Eddie laughed and shook his head. “Again, not a big deal, not hiding it, but it just wasn’t really relevant. Figured now’s as good a time as any.”

Bobby’s face crumpled into laughter. “I think we officially have the most diverse team in Los Angeles.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New year's!!!  
> Have some goofiness, some angst, and some fluff from our boys and their respective blasts-from-the-pasts.

The closer it got to the wedding, the worse Eddie’s nerves got. He didn’t realize until he RSVP’d just what he was dragging Buck into. 

Evidently, Mel’s fiance Andre had a sister who owned a winery in Northern California and her gift to the couple was to give all of their guests free accomodations the weekend of the wedding. The winery had a large furnished barn near the vineyard where the wedding ceremony and reception were going to take place, as well as a nice sized Bed and Breakfast on the property that Andre’s sister had reserved entirely for the guests of the wedding. 

The realization that he was essentially taking Buck away to a weekend getaway at a romantic winery and B’n’B hit Eddie like a sucker punch. It was a familiar pain in his gut, radiating up toward his heart and squeezing. The number of times he found himself fantasizing about things just like that surfacing again, reminding him just how deeply he actually was pining after his best friend. 

Eddie thought he had his feelings for Buck under control. He did fine at work keeping them at bay. It was a little harder when Buck visited with him and Christopher, but he was managing. Did his heart skip a beat every time Christopher laughed at something Buck said or did? Well, yeah. Did heat pool in his belly every time Buck lifted his arms and his shirt rode up, exposing skin Eddie just wanted to sink his fingers into? Definitely. Did he have to force himself not to kiss Buck goodbye every time he left Eddie’s house? Abso-fucking-lutely. But he was managing it, okay? Eddie could keep his feelings in check. 

But he worried about this new territory he was hauling Buck into. When he RSVP’d, Eddie told Mel that he was bringing a friend, not a date, so he hoped Mel would have given them a room with two beds. But knowing him like Eddie did made him nervous. It would be just like Mel to throw Eddie into a potentially awkward situation just for the laughs. And God only knew the kind of things Mel would say to Buck once they finally met. 

Buck didn’t seem to share any of those worries, or if he did, he was hiding them very well. He seemed even more excited for it the closer the date came, asking a million questions so he would make a good impression on Eddies’ Army friends. Eddie half expected the questions to continue on the drive upstate, but was happily surprised to get a much more relaxed Buck in his passenger seat for the long trip.

Eddie’s impulsively bought truck made the drive a smooth one, and Buck singing along softly to the music made it a comfortable one. Buck had made a playlist for their six hour car ride that definitely kept Eddie entertained the entire time. It switched from pop songs Eddie only vaguely recognized, to classic rock they could both sing along to, and even pulled in some Mexican hits that Eddie was surprised Buck even knew, but that he happily jammed out to with him.

Six hours went by far faster than Eddie thought it would, and before he realized it, his GPS was directing him to pull off on the long dirt drive that led back to the winery's sprawling campus. Buck reached up to turn the music down so they could take it all in as Eddie drove slowly back toward the Bed and Breakfast where they'd be staying. Eddie saw the barn first, but his eyes were quickly drawn to the almost endless expanse of grapevines in the background of every other building he saw. He heard Buck let out a low whistle as he pulled his eyes away and back to the road in front of them. He saw Buck out of the corner of his eye and smiled at the look of awe on his face as he took in the sights.

He put the truck in park in front of the Bed and Breakfast and turned to look at Buck in the passenger seat. "Pretty nice, huh?"

"This is crazy Eddie. Thank you again for inviting me. This place is gorgeous."

 _'You're gorgeous,'_ Eddie wanted to say, taking in the soft expression on Buck's face as he looked out the windshield at the small Victorian style house in front of them. What he said out loud was, "Thank you for coming with me. And for being such a good sport about whatever Mel might throw at us."

Buck laughed and guestured all around them. "In exchange for all this, I think I can put up with just about anything he might dish out."

When Eddie checked in at the front desk, the clerk handed over two keys and smiled widely at him and Buck. "Mel made sure we gave you two this room in particular. If anything isn't up to snuff, please don't hesitate to let us know." 

Eddie thanked him awkwardly, already assuming the worst as he and Buck made their way to the top floor of the old building. Opening the door, he instantly groaned and Buck cackled from behind him. 

"I fucking knew he'd do this," he grumbled, shuffling into the room and throwing his bag on the king sized bed in the center of the room, sending rose petals flying in the air.

"C'mon Eddie, it's not that bad. It's cozy." 

He flipped around and glared at Buck. "We have to spend three nights here. I asked him specifically to make sure we had two beds. He did this on purpose to screw with me. I don't care that he's getting married, I'm gonna kick his ass when I see him."

Buck threw his head back in laughter and tossed himself down on the bed, sprawled out and looking up at Eddie. He tossed a handful of rose petals at him and they landed at Eddie's feet. "Dude, look at this thing. I think it might even be a California King. We will have no problem sharing this for three nights. Now get down here with me and test this bad boy out. It's ridiculously comfy. Even with the flowers."

Unhelpfully, Eddie's mind took the image of Buck splayed out on a bed looking like that, asking him to join him, and ran with the possibilities. _'This weekend will be the death of me.'_

\- - - 

Friday night threw Eddie for a loop so hard he thought he had whiplash.

With the wedding the next day, and most of their guests already in attendance, Mel and Andre opted out of having a traditional rehearsal dinner, but rather rented out a nearby bar and invited all the guests there for a more casual food and drink setting. It seemed a little weird to Eddie at first, since they were having the wedding at the winery and chose to rent out a bar instead, but he found out later that the winery was essentially closed the day before any wedding for preparation and that didn't change just because the owner's brother is one of the grooms. 

Mel found Eddie quickly, even in the already crowded bar, and practically dragged his fiance behind him only to barrel into Eddie for a tight embrace. 

"Eduardo!"

"Not my name - " Eddie interjected, laughing and ruffling Mel’s curls like he’s done hundreds of times before.

"Shut up, it is to me. It's so good to see you man! So glad you were able to take off the whole weekend. I've missed your ugly mug."

Eddie pushed Mel's face away playfully and shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, I've missed you too dumbass. You're lucky we were both able to get off," he nodded backwards at Buck. "Or else I don't know what I would've done." 

Mel looked behind Eddie at the taller of the two and smirked even wider than before. “Ah, yes, the famous Buck. My apparent doppelganger. Damn we really do look a lot alike." He laughed and shook his head. "It's good to finally meet Eddie’s new beau.”

Buck just laughed, and reached around Eddie to shake Mel’s hand. “Eddie warned me you’d probably think that. It’s great to meet you too, but Eddie and I are just friends.” He turned toward the shorter, light skinned man behind Mel and extended his hand again. “And you must be Andre. Nice to meet you. Congrats man. Your sister has a beautiful winery.”

“Thank you so much. I’m happy you could come; from what Mel says, Eddie doesn’t shut up about you. And Mel barely shuts up about Eddie, so I was looking forward to finally meeting you both this weekend.”

Mel brought his hand to his heart and fake-gasped, looking at his fiance in shock. “Babe, you wound me. Throwing me to the dogs already?”

Andre rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored Mel in favor of reaching out a hand toward Eddie. Instead of a handshake, he pulled him in and hugged him with the other arm, slapping him on the back and laughing. “Eddie, my man, it’s so much nicer to finally meet you in real life. Skype just doesn’t cut it sometimes.” 

Pleasantries out of the way, the grooms-to-be guided Buck and Eddie toward the back to the bar where a few more familiar faces were gathered around a large corner table. Eddie started introducing Buck to more of the men that he and Mel served with in Afghanistan as Andre and him got pulled away to converse with more of their guests. The guys there warmed up easily to Buck and he seemed to do just the same, falling easily into conversation with a few of them as Eddie looked on contently. He wasn’t nervous or anything for Buck to meet his friends from the Army, but he was definitely happily surprised at how well they all got along. 

Before he knew it, he was being sucked into a silly debate about something meaningless and cackling along with everyone at the table, when a voice rang out from across the bar.

“Holy shit, Buck? Is that you?”

Buck and Eddie both spun around at the sound of his name and saw a man and a woman pushing their way through the crowd. Eddie had never seen these people in his life, but it seemed that Buck was very familiar with them as he launched himself out of his chair and ran to meet them. 

“Devin! Morgan! Holy shit!” The three of them collided in a big hug, a jumble of long arms reaching around broad shoulders, and they all started laughing. Buck pulled away and held the couple at arms length, looking over them both. “Oh my god, guys, what are you doing here?”

“Us? What are you doing here? I thought you were living in L.A.,” the woman - Morgan, evidently - said, leaning back in to Buck to kiss him on each cheek. She was tall for a woman, but still shorter than both Buck and the man Eddie guessed was Devin, who was pretty well matched in stature to Buck himself. She rubbed a thumb over Buck’s birthmark in a way that seemed almost intimate. “Oh I’ve missed seeing your goofy ass all the time.”

“I’ve missed you guys too. Holy shit, this is kind of surreal. I mean, yeah, I’m in L.A., but that’s a whole lot closer than Pennsylvania is.”

“I work with Andre. He flew a bunch of us out here for the weekend. How do you know him?” Morgan asked, finally pulling back from Buck and draping an arm around Devin’s waist. 

“Oh, I’m actually here on Mel’s side of things, I guess. I came with Eddie, who’s actually one of Mel’s Army buddies. You guys can finally meet him; god knows I’ve talked about him enough you probably feel like you already know him. You’ll love him, I’m sure.”

It was weird hearing Buck talk about him as if he wasn’t sitting ten feet away, but it was also interesting seeing him interact with people he apparently has known much longer, especially since he had evidently told them about him. 

“Well you’ve gotta introduce us to him then,” the muscular man standing next to Morgan said, reaching out and slapping Buck on the shoulder and winking in another overly-familiar way that only further confused Eddie.

Buck didn’t seem affected, though, as he turned back to the table and gestured for Eddie to come over to them. Eddie shook off the odd feeling he had and slid himself out of the booth to make his way over to stand next to Buck.

“Morgan, Devin, this is Eddie Diaz. Eddie, these are some of my oldest friends, Devin and Morgan Masters.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Eddie offered, hand outstretched for more handshakes. He had a feeling they would be doing a lot of that this weekend. “I couldn’t help but overhear that you work with Andre. That’s so awesome that you guys came all the way out here and get to catch up with Buck on top of it all.”

“Nice to meet you too, good looking,” Devin responded, sending a flirty smirk to Eddie. “Thank you for bringing him out to this, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten that chance.”

“Can you maybe turn down the charm like twenty percent there my dude?” Buck asked, giving an exasperated look to Devin. 

“Why? I thought you two were just friends.”

“We are, but that’s beside the point. You’re married and I doubt Eddie appreciates getting hit on by a married man.”

Morgan laughed, as if her husband wasn’t just accused of flirting with someone else right in front of her, and looked at Eddie. “I apologize for this one. He doesn’t know when to turn it off sometimes.”

Buck guffawed. “You’re one to talk, Morgan. You taught him everything he knows on that subject.”

After shooting the shit with each other for another couple of minutes, Devin suggested they move to a table so they could sit and order some more drinks and something to eat. There wasn’t enough room at the table Eddie and Buck had started at, so they looked around for an open one they could commandeer and started a new round of drinks amongst the four of them. It took Eddie a little bit to get used to the flirty nature of Buck’s friends, but he found himself warming up to them quick enough and soon fell into easy conversation with them. At some point, Andre and another of his work friends joined them at their table and fit right into the conversation. 

Eddie wasn’t quite sure when Buck and Morgan broke off into their own side conversation, but he noticed that neither had said anything for a while and turned to find them huddled close on the bench and talking in low voices, obviously not wanting to be heard by the rest of the group. Eddie was still sat close enough to Buck, though, that he could hear almost everything they were saying, and couldn’t help himself from eavesdropping a little bit. 

“So you’re telling me you’ve been single for actual months now and haven’t slept with anyone since you broke up with whatsherface?”

Buck laughed and Eddie had to take a drink to avoid laughing along with the comforting noise. 

“No one but me and my hand for the last few months, at least.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” Morgan said, chuckling. Out of the corner of his eye, Eddie could see her run a manicured hand up and down Buck’s arm and he scrunched his face up a bit as her flirty tone. 

He thought he was getting used to it from her and Devin, but it was still odd to think that her husband was sitting across the table and she was still practically melting into Buck’s side like that. 

“You must be itching for it. I know how you get,” she whispered, leaning even closer to Buck’s ear, her tone somehow even lower and sultrier, insinuating things Eddie wasn’t prepared to think about in the slightest. “Why the hell haven’t you gone looking for anyone. That’s not like you.”

Buck shrugged, but leaned into her touch anyways, almost unconsciously it seemed. “Eh, that’s not really who I’ve been for a while now. Buck 1.0 would definitely be out there right now scouting for a pickup. Buck 2.0 is more than comfortable sitting here catching up with friends.”

“You could always catch up with friends in another way, too,” Morgan purred, her other hand gripping Buck’s thigh. There was no mistaking her meaning then. “We’ve missed having you around, Ev. I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to convince Devin we should all just disappear to our room at the B’n’B for the rest of the night. And maybe tomorrow night as well.”

Eddie’s mouth was getting dry at the suggestion alone. He suddenly connected all the dots in his head, remembering Buck’s college friend Devin, who he had all the threesomes with. From the sounds of it, that even carried over into Devin’s marriage. _’Jesus Christ Buck,’_ Eddie thought, taking a huge gulp of the water in front of him. 

“Devin can have you all to himself again, since you can’t bottom for me anymore,” Morgan continued. 

Water shot up Eddie’s nose and he started gagging and coughing. 

“Jesus Eds, drink much?” Buck laughed, patting his back fairly unhelpfully. 

Eddie coughed and cleared his throat one last time. “M’good. Went down the wrong pipe is all.”

Buck shrugged and turned back to Morgan. Eddie pretended to pay attention to the other guys at the table as they ribbed him for choking on water as well. 

“So you ended up getting it done, then?” Buck asked quietly. 

“Sure did. The healing was the worst part, but the docs cleared me for any and all strenuous activity - if you get what I mean - a few months back. I feel like a brand new woman.”

“Well damn girl, congrats!” Buck, in a completely unsurprising manner, couldn’t control his volume with his excitement. Everyone at the table turned to look at the commotion and Buck beamed at Devin. “I hear things have been changing for you guys.”

Devin looked utterly confused and Morgan took pity on her husband. “I told him about the surgery.”

“Oh yeah,” Devin laughed. “I forgot you didn’t know about that yet. I wish I would have taken a video of her coming out of anathesia though - it was a fucking riot man.”

Morgan rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah, apparently I started crying because I thought I cut my own dick off, not remembering that that's what I wanted them to do all along. I’ve never been that stoned in my whole life, and all accounts suggest it was hilarious.”

Eddie was pretty sure he knew what they were talking about, and Andre seemed like he was clued into the conversation as well, but the other guy looked utterly lost. Devin looked at him and chuckled. “She’s trans. Had bottom surgery recently.”

“Ohh…” he laughed, rubbing a hand over his face. “That makes so much more sense now. Congrats then!”

“Thank you,” Morgan said, tipping her glass almost as if to toast him. She spoke next as if talking to everyone at the table. “I wasn’t sure if I actually wanted to do it for a while, but I’m so glad I did. It’s not like I wasn’t happy or comfortable with myself before, but things are somehow so much better now. I feel almost more complete now, if that makes any sense.”

“Makes total sense,” Eddie said, a soft smile on his face. “That’s really amazing for you, that you’ve been able to get to that point.”

Morgan smiled a wide smile and reached across the table to grip Devin’s hand, looking at him with love in her eyes. “It helps that I have the most amazing husband in the world.”

“I don’t know what we’re talking about, but I have to beg to differ there,” Mel’s voice came from behind them all. Eddie saw Mel come around them to wrap his arms around Andre’s neck and kiss the side of his head. “Do you guys mind if I steal the most amazing husband in the world away for a few minutes? We have some other guests that require our attention.”

“Oh shut it Mel, he doesn’t get that title just yet,” Eddie joked, reaching over to tap Mel in the arm playfully. 

“Soon,” he said, leaning down to kiss Andre gently. As Andre stood up, Mel turned to the other guy and said, “Oh, Charlie, Davina was looking for you earlier over by the jukebox. Might wanna go try and track her down.”

With just the four of them left, Buck turned to Devin and said nonchalantly, “Your wife is trying to seduce me again.”

Eddie choked again, this time on nothing but air, and Buck looked at him sideways. 

“Oh come on Eddie. I know you were eavesdropping on that whole conversation.” Morgan laughed in the background and Buck turned back to Devin. “As I was telling Morgan, or at least trying to, I’m flattered that you guys would even still want me to be a part of things like that, but I’m going to have to decline.”

Devin nodded thoughtfully. “Same reasons you backed out of things senior year?”

“Partially,” Buck said, nodding. “As fun as it was, and as great as I’m sure it would be again, I would never be able to keep up with that soul-deep bond you two have. That hasn’t changed. But also, as I was telling Morgan, I’m not really that kind of guy anymore. Believe it or not, I’ve had two serious relationships in the past two years and haven’t slept with anyone else but them. Well, I had one hookup between them, but I didn't mean for that one to even happen.”

“He’s gone months without sex,” Morgan fake whispered, as if was a horrific idea.

“Shit dude, really?”

Buck shrugged. “I had a bit of a realization that I was using sex as some kind of coping mechanism and it was starting to get out of hand. Almost lost my job over it, actually. Decided it was time to reevaluate some things.”

“I can get that. But damn, don’t you get sick of your own hand after a while?”

Eddie’s not sure what made him open his mouth.

“Toys help to keep things from getting too boring.”

Eddie suddenly wished he hadn’t said no to the offer of another round of drinks that came twenty minutes before. He picked up his water and took a slow drink as he kicked himself for chiming in at all, let alone what he said. 

He saw the incredulous look on Buck’s face as Devin and Morgan both started cracking up. 

“What?” he asked his friend, choosing to jump face first into the hole he already dug himself. He laughed lightly and said, “You know what my love life has looked like over the past couple years. Sadder than yours, that’s for sure. Gotta keep things interesting somehow.”

“Edmundo Miguel Diaz - “

“Not my middle name and you know it.”

Buck ignored him. “I cannot believe you have sex toys under the same roof that my precious, innocent little Christopher lays his head to sleep.”

Eddie laughed, head falling back slightly now. “You are being so dramatic right now. They’re hidden well enough that he will never find them. Unlike your stash, I might add.”

Buck gasped exaggeratedly as the others roared with laughter. “Well I never! The accusations…”

“Oh shut up, dipshit,” Eddie joked, bumping shoulders with his best friend. “I’ve stumbled across your shit before, which is the real reason I’ve banned Christopher from going upstairs at your place. You are not very good at hiding things like that.”

Buck laughed and dropped the facade. “I wasn’t trying to hide them, man. Gotta keep that shit handy.”

“What about -” Eddie put the next words in air-quotes, “‘Your precious innocent Christopher?’”

“There’s no reason for him to go upstairs anyways. Zero chance of him finding anything.”

“Who’s Christopher?” Devin asked, reminding Eddie that he was still technically having a conversation with two other people as well as Buck. 

“My son,” he answered, pulling his phone out to show them pictures. It just so happened that the last ten or so pictures in his camera roll were of Chris and Buck, or all of them together. 

Morgan must have realized the same thing. Her eyebrow shot up and a smirk creeped onto her face. “He’s adorable Eddie. Totally adorable. But are you sure he’s just _your_ son?”

Devin laughed, catching on to what his wife was insinuating. “Yeah, it sure looks like he has a second father in just about all of these pictures.” He turned to Buck and slapped him on the back. “Congrats man, looks like you’ve got a son now!”

Buck almost immediately shut down. He slumped in his seat and shoved Devin off. “Shut up, asshole. It’s not like that.” He sounded oddly defensive, the joking tone completely gone from his voice. “Eddie’s my best friend and he happens to have an amazing kid, so obviously I’m going to spend a lot of time with them. That doesn’t make me his dad.”

Devin put his hands up defensively. “Whoa. Relax man, I just meant you guys look cute together, like a family. I was joking, but the three of you do look good together. That’s all I meant.”

“Morgan! Devin!” A woman in her fifties came shuffling over to their table, heels clicking against the hardwood of the bar floor. Eddie had no clue who she was, but if she knew Morgan, he’d bet she was another co-worker of hers and Andre’s. “You guys - sorry to interrupt! I could really use you two to help us solve an argument Davina and Charlie roped everyone into.”

Morgan looked at Buck with a fair amount of sympathy. "You don't mind, do you? I know we were kinda -"

"No, no, you're fine." Buck shook his head and waved then along. "I overreacted a bit, but I promise you guys are totally fine. Go settle that argument. We'll catch up later. We've got all weekend."

Once Eddie and Buck were the only ones at their table, Eddie realized Buck had a certain look on his face that meant he was deep in thought. Eddie looked around them, seeing the exit nearby, and knew he needed to get Buck out of there if he wanted a chance of him opening up about whatever it was that just happened. 

He stood up and offered a hand to Buck, who just stared at it in confusion. Eddie chuckled. "Come on. We're heading back, getting some fresh air and all that. It's almost one in the morning anyways. Let's go."

Buck sighed, but let Eddie drag him to his feet and out of the bar. 

The bar was, almost surprisingly, within walking distance of the winery's property, especially easy for two fit firefighters, so they made their way slowly back to the B'n'B, Buck shuffling along beside Eddie. The night air was verging on chilly, but held enough leftover warmth from the day before that it made the walk bearable. Eddie let them walk in silence for a while, only occasionally bumping arms with Buck as they walked to remind him that he was there for him. 

As they approached the driveway of the winery, Eddie sighed and looked up at the night sky above them as they walked. They were far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the nearby cities that he could make out some of the stars he hadn't realized he missed looking at since moving to L.A.. El Paso was certainly big enough for the lights to block out the stars, but it had nothing on the intensity of the L.A. lights. Out there, near the winery and away from the nearest large city, Eddie could almost make out a constellation or two as he lost himself in the night sky. 

Not looking where he was going, Eddie somehow led them into a small flower garden off the side of the old Victorian building. He looked over at Buck as he narrowly avoided walking into a bed of carnations and saw the intense expression had softened a bit. He figured Buck had probably had enough time to work through his jumbled thoughts enough to finally talk to Eddie about it. He found a stone bench in the middle of the garden and sat down, patting the seat next to him as Buck looked down. 

They sat in silence for another minute before Eddie bumped shoulders with Buck. "Hey. You wanna talk about what happened back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well for one, you kind of freaked out at your friends over a joke. For two, something is obviously bothering you right now, and I'm willing to bet it has something to do with the freaking out bit."

Buck sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It's just, it's not that easy. However much I wish it was."

When it became clear Buck wasn't going to elaborate, Eddie asked, "What's not that easy?"

"Being a father."

"Buck, they were just joking. This isn't the first time you've been taken for Christopher's dad. It's never bothered you like this before."

"Because it's never been someone that knows me. It's different with strangers. With Devin and Morgan, it just…it felt real. And for a split second I let myself believe that it was real. But then I had to let it sink in that it wasn't real and that they were joking about something that I so desperately _want_ to be real. Because it's not as easy as me taking some pictures with Chris and hanging out with you guys a lot. That doesn't make me his dad and it doesn't make us a family."

Eddie's heart plummeted from Buck's pained time of voice, but soared from his words. He turns to him and put a hand on his shoulder gently. "Evan Buckley, I don't know what I did to deserve such an amazing person in my life, but I will forever be thankful." Buck raised his eyebrow in question, his adorable birthmark moving with it, and Eddie almost reached out to smooth out the crease in his forehead. "I already secretly consider you Chris's other parent. Why do you think you're one of his emergency contacts at school? You treat that boy like he is your entire world, and he loves you just as much. His father loves you as much. The only thing that keeps you from being Christopher's father is a legal formality."

Buck just stared back at Eddie, eyes wide, obviously at a loss for words. When he finally spoke, of course he picked up on the one thing Eddie was hoping was hidden well enough in the rest of what he said. 

"His father loves me?" 

Eddie just nodded. 

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Eddie realized then that his hand was still on Buck's shoulder. He moved it slowly to cup the side of Buck's head, taking a deep breath at the same time. Buck's eyes met his as he nestled his cheek in Eddie's hand, maybe even absentmindedly, Eddie thought. 

"I love you Evan. I think I have for a while now, but I didn't want to do anything that would -"

"Ruin what we had?" Buck finished for him. Eddie nodded and Buck laughed. "Well shit."

"Does that mean -"

"I love you too Eddie," Buck said, nodding slightly in Eddie's hand. 

Eddie leaned in and brushes a thumb across Buck's cheek. "Is this -"

"Plenty okay," Buck laughed. He closed the short distance between the two and met Eddie's lips in a searing kiss. It was everything Eddie had thought it would be and more. He wasn't sure if it was the emotional conversation leading up to it or if it was just because _he was finally kissing Buck_ , but Eddie's head was starting to spin from the intensity. Or maybe it was from the lack of air.

Eddie pulled away begrudgingly to take a deep breath. He laughed slightly and caressed Buck's cheek with his thumb again. "Maybe we should go thank Devin and Morgan for making us have this conversation."

"Devin and Morgan can eat my ass," Buck said, laughing breathily. 

"They'd probably like that."

Buck hiccupped out a loud laugh and hit Eddie in the shoulder. "You're probably right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone that has commented, given kudos, bookmarked, or any combo of them! Y'all warm my heart and I love seeing those notifications so much
> 
> Next chapter (the last chapter, likely) will probably up the rating to explicit, but will also wrap up this wedding weekend and give everyone some more closure

**Author's Note:**

> I know I commented on almost every comment on 'When it Started' and 'Clueless', but I'm probably not going to do that here, just so I'm not clogging up the comments, but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate every single comment you might want to leave on this. Every time I get a notification that there's a comment or someone left kudos on a story just makes my heart soar and I am forever grateful for every one of them <3<3<3


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